Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences
Professor in Qatar University
He obtained honors degrees in both B.Sc. and M.Sc. in biological sciences from Jordan University in Amman, Jordan, in 1985 and 1988, respectively. From 1988 until 2002, he worked in teaching and research positions at various universities in Jordan and Qatar. In 2002, he joined the Plant Sciences Department at McGill University in Canada, where he completed his PhD degree in Plant Sciences. During his doctoral studies, he received several travel grants and was awarded the prestigious “Pest Management Research Graduate Student Award” in 2006 by The Canadian Society of Agronomy.
In 2006, he joined The Hashemite University in Zarqa as an Assistant Professor, eventually serving as the Chair of the Department of Biology and Biotechnology for three years. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2012. In September 2013, he moved to Qatar University, where he assumed the role of Associate Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences. From 2013 until September 2019, he served as the Graduate Coordinator for the M.Sc. and PhD programs within the department. In September 2019, he was appointed as the Acting Head of the Department. In October 2020, he achieved the position of Full Professor in the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at Qatar University.
During his PhD research, conducted in Professor Alan Watson’s lab, he focused on investigating the interactions of ecological factors with a weed biocontrol project. His work resulted in the publication of six original articles in highly respected journals. Following his move to Jordan in 2006 and his affiliation with the Hashemite University, which operated in an arid environment where weed research was not prominent, he decided to utilize his expertise in other areas. He established two major research areas, one centered on plant allelopathy and the other on aerobiology, specifically air-borne fungal spores and pollen grains. Once again, he successfully published his research findings in reputable journals within the respective fields.
Upon his transition to the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at Qatar University in 2013, he encountered a new challenge. Research priorities in Qatar predominantly focused on environmental pollutants, wastewater management, water and food security, and biodiversity, presenting him with valuable opportunities to supervise graduate student research. Consequently, he became involved in multidisciplinary research projects related to wastewater use and treatment, phyto- and bio-remediation of heavy metal pollutants in soil and wastewater, and aerobiology. More recently, he established a new research area which